Marine spatial planning is an emerging ocean management tool that plans for and allocates multiple uses of the marine environment in a coordinated and spatially-explicit manner. The need for MSP has emerged out of the realization that most nations currently manage their marine environment on a sector-by-sector basis, which can result in conflicts among sectors and can also have cumulative, harmful impacts on the surrounding ecosystem. Using a marine zoning process, analogous to the terrestrial strategy of land use planning, can help ensure that marine-based activities are coordinated and carried out in a way that minimizes impacts to the marine environment.
To help Grenada and St. Vincent & the Grenadines move forward with MSP, ELI is identifying existing policies and laws that can be used to support a collaborative, transboundary approach to MSP in the region. We are also identifying gaps and barriers to MSP implementation that currently exist as a result of the fragmented marine management approach in the region. Ultimately, ELI will use its legal and policy analysis to make a series of recommendations for actions to be taken in order to legally implement marine zoning and marine spatial planning in Grenada and St. Vincent & the Grenadines.